Bruce Cassidy would have been five years old when Bobby Orr famously flew through the air upon scoring the overtime goal that won the Boston Bruins the Stanley Cup in 1970.

At that young of an age, you don’t remember everything. You just remember everything that’s important to you.

The Orr goal was important to Cassidy. That image of Orr, his stick pointed skywards and his body horizontal, has stuck with Cassidy for 49 long years, mostly because it’s an image that was stuck on his bedroom wall for most of his childhood. Growing up in Ottawa, the Bruins head coach had a part-time job delivering the Ottawa Citizen. The day after Boston won, the iconic image of Orr appeared in the paper, which Cassidy immediately cut out and taped to his bedroom wall.

“By the time I took it down, I guess it was what, yellow? Isn’t that what the old newspaper colour was?” Cassidy said in a news conference on Wednesday. “That was what was on my wall.”

It wasn’t the only iconic image on his wall.

“Maybe a Farrah Fawcett poster,” Cassidy said, laughing. “Maybe.”

In this May 10, 1970, file photo, Boston Bruins’ Bobby Orr goes into the air after scoring a goal against the St. Louis Blues that won the Stanley Cup for the Bruins, in Boston. Orr and the big, bad Boston Bruins swept the expansion-era Blues in that series. Now 49 years later, Boston is in its third final in nine seasons and St. Louis is back for the first time since 1970 (Ray Lussier/The Boston Herald via AP, File)Ray Lussier /
AP

That’s what winning the Stanley Cup does. It provides iconic moments that become part of the bedroom décor of a young boy or girl’s life. If you grew up in the 1970s, it was Orr flying through the air. In the 1980s, it might have been Gretzky hoisting the Cup or Lanny McDonald hugging the Cup. Then it was Mario Lemieux deking through a pair of defenders before sliding feet first around Minnesota goalie Jon Casey, followed by Marc-Andre Fleury’s buzzer-beater save, Patrick Kane’s mysterious overtime goal and Alex Ovechkin proving that those so-called enigmatic Russians can indeed lead teams to championships.

The Cup cements legacies. But it also re-writes narratives.

When Cassidy thinks of Orr, he thinks of a player that scored the winning goal in the Stanley Cup. His memory is that of a winner. Had the Bruins lost, had Blues goalie Glenn Hall stood on his head rather than allowed the most famous goal in NHL history, maybe a different image would have been on Cassidy’s wall. Maybe a different memory would have been cast.

That’s what is at skate when Boston and St. Louis meet in Game 1 of the final on Monday. The Stanley Cup final is a historical account. But it’s much, much more than that. It has the power to build upon legacies, to change perceptions, to create memories and so much more.

For the Blues, it’s a chance to end a drought that’s stretched on since the franchise entered the league in 1967. Win and you’ll be remembered forever. Lose and you could possibly join Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau and Roberto Luongo in the club that no one wants to belong to.

“I do believe some guys are fortunate,” said Cassidy. “I don’t buy into the guys who have never won are not high character guys. Sometimes you are at the right place at the right time with the right team.”

Fair or not, we view players who win championships differently than players who simply were not lucky enough to be at the right place at the right time.

Before Steve Yzerman won his first of three Cups, no one considered him one of the game’s greatest leaders. At one time, Jonathan Toews was deemed better than Crosby simply because Toews had won three championships to Crosby’s one.

Head coach Bruce Cassidy of the Boston Bruins speaks to the media after defeating the Carolina Hurricanes in Game Four to win the Eastern Conference Finals during the 2019 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at PNC Arena on May 16, 2019 in Raleigh, North Carolina.Grant Halverson /
Getty Images

At this time a year ago, Ovechkin was regarded as a great goal-scorer but a terrible team player. Some called him selfish. Others said he was a coach killer who was simply incapable of leading a team to glory. And then he put all that talk to rest by not only leading the Capitals to their first-ever championship but also winning the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.

Is it now Ryan O’Reilly or Vladimir Tarasenko’s turn? How about David Backes, who as the Blues former captain, never could get them over the hump? Or maybe it’s time Jay Bouwmeester, who is in his first Cup final after 16 long seasons, gets rewarded?

Aside from Backes, the Bruins don’t really have an Ovechkin on their roster. Five of their players were part of that team that won the Cup less than 10 years ago. But for Tuukka Rask, who was the backup goalie in 2011 and still gets blamed for Boston’s loss to Chicago in the 2013 final and overall playoff disappointments, there’s more than just a second championship on the line.

“What is his motivation?” Cassidy asked of Rask. “He wants to build his legacy in the Stanley Cup championship. I think that’s what motivates most guys, but especially guys who are farther along.”

Indeed, this might be the last chance for 42-year-old Zdeno Chara to tip the scales when it comes to his Hall of Fame entry. It might be a chance for Brad Marchand, who was a rookie when Boston won in 2011, to show he’s more than just a pest. And for Patrice Bergeron, it’s a chance to join Orr and Tom Brady as someone who could one day have a sculpture in his honour.

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